Massive bird deaths attributed "polution and climate change."

[Jeffersons Ghost]

Birds in trouble? Yes ... here's why

John Roach writes:Birds are indeed in trouble. But this trouble has nothing to do with freakish events such as the thousands of blackbirds that fell from the sky in Arkansas on New Year's Eve. Rather, experts say birds are falling prey to a laundry list of long-term threats ranging from pollution and habitat loss to climate change.

The bird deaths in Arkansas, along with more deaths that have been reported in Louisiana, then Kentucky and Sweden, have been swept up into a phenomenon that's been dubbed the "aflockalypse" — but these events are actually relatively routine. They're not a sign that the end of the world) is near.

"I don't think there is a story here," Stuart Pimm, a conservation ecologist at Duke University, told me when I asked for his take on the buzz surrounding the birds. "It is probably just a bunch of independent events that have suddenly generated public notoriety and that's got everybody worried."

But that doesn't mean there's nothing to worry about. Pimm noted that one in six bird species is threatened with extinction.

http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/01/07/5785480-birds-in-trouble-yes-heres-why

[meow mix]

1. from reading DU youd think its something to laugh at. and everything is fine

so many threads making jokes about this.. pimm is to the left of them

[Jeffersons Ghost]

2. "climate change" and mass "extinction" are nothing to joke about

[meow mix]

3. yeah i guess from the rw thugs threads like these are expected:

"GOSH! Most of the TREES around here are DEAD! All the leaves came off, and"

http://upload.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x124741



"400 bugs found dead!"

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x124697

quite a few more

[stray cat]

4. This is not talking about the birds who recently died

But a long term problem. The only commonality is the term birds

[pintobean]

5. Massive comprehension fail attributed to global warming

over-hyping.

[SpiralHawk]

6. "Move along. Nothing to see here." - Stewie Pimm, Duke

Did this Stewie clown go to the Republicon School of Reality Denial?

[PhillySane]

7. Still plenty of oil in the gulf, killing wildlife

It's a nice diversion from reality to believe that the government or aliens are killing birds with fancy technology, but it allows us to continue ignoring the truth.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/01/08/louisiana.oil.still.present/index.html?hpt=T2

which is, WE'RE DOING IT! We need to get off our dependence on oil and fast!

[lonestarnot]

8. K & R

for this post alone!

[Ichingcarpenter]

9. Magnetic North Shifts

Are also a rumor, the Blue stain on the dead birds is from
lack of oxygen........ I posted this story from Scientific America
in the Science Forum.



http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=228x74917


I don't think its the only thing but shit is happening.

[WinkyDink]

11. The polar shift is happening. Russia, at least, is acknowledging it.

The Mayans knew, and had it all calculated out.

[WinkyDink]

10. This guy sounds stupid. The deaths are news BECAUSE birds dropping dead are NOT "ROUTINE".

Wow. Talk about an attempt at a cover-up. Maybe this ecologist wants to work for BP.

[PhillySane]

12. Here's a discussion from 2003

about birds acting strange. Seems some weird stuff happened then too.

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=220729

Probably always has. We are due for another Sun Spot/Solar Flare cycle this year. It is speculated that birds react to these events because they rely on the earth's magnetic field to fly/navigate.

I'm not saying this is the reason. I don't know the reason.

That said, I'm not sure this deserves to be a news story yet, but the news "gloms" are getting a lot of play on it, so WTF. People eat this stuff up every 11 years or so. Could just be a nice distraction from the really heavy shit that's going on out there. Wars, economy, oil spills....